Page 48 of The Bound Mage
“Tomorrow,” Loren rasped, and when Araya glanced up at him through her lashes he was just staring at her, his expression gutted. “In the morning. I have to go—Bloomtide is about hope. Eloria…she wants people to see me.”
Her heart sank, heavy and leaden. But Araya nodded once, pressing her lips together to keep anything else from spilling out.
“But you could come,” Loren added softly. He leaned forward, the shadows stretching across the table toward her. “Come with me. Eloria would be happy to have you there. You can see a real Bloomtide. And after that—” his hand flexed against the table, his knuckles white. “After that we can decide what to do about the bond. Together. No more secrets.”
Araya folded her arms, the ache under her ribs pressing harder. “No more secrets?”
Loren nodded.
“We’d have to leave in the morning,” he said, his green eyes locked on hers like her answer meant everything. “You don’t have to decide right now. Just…meet me in the entrance hall after breakfast if you want to come. And wear something you can walk in.”
Araya dropped her gaze to the table, pretending to study the candied blossoms. Her heart leapt in her chest, the bond screaming at her to say yes—but she wasn’t going to let some bond she didn’t ask for dictate her decisions. “I’ll think about it.”
Chapter
Twenty-One
Loren paced the entry hall,the shadows twisting restlessly around his feet. He’d only meant to see her—to offer an apology and appease the ache that plagued him. None of his plans had included inviting her to Lumaria. But the words had tumbled out of his mouth before he could bite them back.
She deserved better than a broken fae prince who couldn’t control his own power, let alone lead a kingdom on the edge of collapse. But for some reason, the Goddess had seen fit to tether her fate to his, tying her to a male who flinched at every flicker of darkness in his own mind.
It would have been laughable if it weren’t so utterly terrifying.
The little shadow that had attached itself to her streaked into the hall, circling him once before vanishing into the gloom. She must be close, if it was here. It had abandoned him the instant they returned to Ithralis, racing to her side like a loyal hound. He hadn’t been surprised, after it had abandoned him to stay with her the first time, but he didn’t understand it. They’d never acted like this with his mother. But Araya—even the Shadowed Veil had paused when she spoke.
“Loren?”
Loren straightened, Araya’s voice snapping him from his spiraling thoughts. She hovered at the base of the stairs, her bright silver eyes guarded. But she was here. Willing to see—to listen.
Now he just needed to find the words to explain it all without sending her running in the opposite direction. Goddess help him.
“What?” Araya asked, glancing down at her clothes. “Is this not good?”
“No—it’s fine.” Loren cleared his throat, dragging his gaze away before she caught him staring like a boy barely come into his power. “We should get moving. I don’t want to be in the forest longer than we need to be.”
“We’re going through the forest?” Araya trailed him out the door, her voice tight. “I thought the coastal road was safer?”
“It avoids the worst of the shadows,” Loren said, leading them through the gate and skirting the edge of the forest. “But it’s longer. We have plenty of daylight left, and thezal’vorrusually prefer to hunt at night.”
“Usually?” She cast him a skeptical glance, taking a half-step closer to him as they entered the shadow of the trees.
“As long as you don’t serve yourself up as a tasty snack—” he barely managed to hold back his smile as she huffed, irritation cutting through the fear that hummed through the bond. He hadn’t realized how much he’dmissedfeeling her emotions until they were gone, the distance between them turning everything but her strongest emotions into nothing but a faint echo.
They walked in companionable silence after that, every footfall crushing the tiny white flowers that had sprung up in the cracked stones, perfuming the air. Loren’s shadows stretched ahead of them, slipping over cracked stones and exploring the edges of the road.
“That’s the temple we took shelter in,” Araya said suddenly. She stopped, studying the thick tendrils of darkness that spilled over the smashed stone walls, crawling onto the edges of the road.
“It is.” Loren took her elbow, steering her closer to the center of the path. “Thatis the reason hardly anyone takes the forest road. Our scholars believe it’s the source of the Shadowed Veil.”
“Is it?” Araya asked, studying the twisted tendrils creeping over the carved archways with open curiosity.
“I haven’t looked into it.” Loren shrugged, biting back a smile at the aghast look she trained on him. “Better scholars than me have studied it,ael’sura. Eloria banned further attempts to enter the shadows here after so many people were lost trying to retrieve our father’s body.”
“But—” Araya frowned, her forehead creasing. “We entered.”
“We entered thetemple,” Loren corrected. “The battlefield is completely blanketed in shadows. We might have survived sailing directly through he Shadowed Veil—something most people would call impossible—but I wouldn’t be eager to test these shadows. ”
He took her elbow, guiding her carefully around the creeping darkness where the road curved past the temple. His own shadows clung to his legs, their low, anxious murmur doing nothing to set him at ease.
